Corruption In Tammany Hall Scandal, By Joe Mockler

At the end of the 19th century the United States were in a time called “The Gilded Age”, coined by Mark Twain; a time of mass immigration, Western settlement, and industrialization. Out of these times emerged a political party named the Populist party, later changed to the People’s party. This party stood for the working man, like farmers and factory laborers. Though this party meant well, it did not last long. Surviving until 1896, the Populist party eventually merged with the Democratic party. With this being said, the Populist party was a short lived dream and failure.

Overall governmental corruption ran rampant. Under President Ulysses S. Grant, a few scandals occurred. One of which had overcharging the public for railroad costs, involving Credit Mobilier, which was comprised mostly of wealthy politicians. They took off some of the taxpayer’s fund for themselves. This was also when the public found out that Republican lawmakers in Congress, including the Speaker of the House were being bribed.

Due to industrialization, controversy arose over the role the government had on the economy. Political parties such as the Populist Party emerged in hopes of changing government power. According to Document 5, taken from the Omaha World-Herald, the Populist Party sought to expand the role of the government. They believed it would bring an end to “oppression, injustice, and poverty.” (Document 5).

The Populist party was successful due to their ideas to improve America, the coinage of silver and income tax eventually were adopted. Competing with the Republican and Democratic Party it acted as a third party and wise option to farmers who sought to change the laws with railroads. But the dissolution occurred in 1896 when they elected William Jennings Bryan as their president a democratic candidate who took majority of the votes to the Democratic Party. With the rise in prices for farm equipment which did not help but made matters worse, and the fact that the party could not get urban supporters to vote diminished its members eventually leading to its

"I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people. Let us all here assembled constitute ourselves prophets of a new order of competence and of courage. This is more than a political campaign; it is a call to arms. Give me your help, not to win votes alone, but to win in this crusade to restore America to its own people." 1

Tweed, or “Boss” Tweed, was to start a volunteer fireman in New York City and from then on his rise to power can only be described as meteoric. From this position he took it upon himself to be elected as the city alderman, and from this position ran for the US House of Representatives and won. These positions turned out to be benign and boring, he was only a Representative for one term, but while in these jobs he cultivated a relationship with Tammany Hall and when his term was up he had a prime position waiting for him. He was to become the sole proprietor of job, political jobs, in Tammany Hall. Not one to waste an opportunity William Tweed installed his own men into key positions of power and managed to control much of the New York City bureaucracy with his eponymous “Tweed Ring”. This ring of corruption lasted more than ten years as “Boss” Tweed and his cronies embezzled over 30 million dollars from New York City. This ring of fraud was ultimately left up for so long because it was so efficient and in another way, genius. Tweed managed to maintain his power by installing only his men into positions of political power, promising them not only influence but money. But with this new wealth comes the guarantee of loyalty to your political boss. In most men's eyes, this is a relatively small price to pay for the thousands of dollars to be made from the jobs he would give. But his regime was to end, in 1869, for a myriad of factors some including the political

The Populist Party, also known as the people’s party, was a third party political option in the primary election for president during the late 18th century. It played a major role progressive politics and politics today. The party mainly supported workers rights and equality. Even though the party only lasted seventeen years, it was ultimately a success because of its major achievements in politics and workers

After the Grant Administration Scandal and the intimidation of Political Machines like Tammany Hall, Americans in the 1890s were fed up with the traditional Republican and Democratic parties. The people were ready for change, and from this dissatisfaction, the Populist Party was born. The Populist Party, also call the “People’s Party,” sought to transform the federal government in favor of public interest. The Populist Party helped to bring about change that Americans wanted, and the efforts of this party are still noticeable in today’s government.

The Populist party was a third party of the 1890s formed to fight for the rights of working people. This party was largely made up of farmers. There were several reasons why this party was formed. By the beginning of the 1880s, millions of farmers had found themselves trapped under the mountains of debt that they couldn’t get out of. There were various causes of why this happened with these farmers.

Although vastly different in their characteristics and motives, the Populist and Progressive era was chiefly caused by the lack of control among the masses and the government. With power revolving around large corporational bosses, individuals of this era sought to enact alterations in order to return order and strength to the people by attempting to limit the authority of corruption. With Progressivism focusing on the purification of American politics, social reforms, such as Women’s Suffrage and prohibition, and the implementation of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth amendments were the main results of the Progressive era. For followers of the Progressive era, eliminating the political corruption of the United States government would only be achieved following the amelioration of their social standards and the unity of the masses. On the other hand, Populists focused their efforts on the repairment of America’s economy. Consisting of frustrated farmers who felt that their agrarian society was threatened by the rise of industrialism. With political machines relying on industries, such as steel and railroads, for their economic needs, the American economy eventually lost the focus on farmers. In order to regain the respect and power previously held, the Populist party called for alterations including an increase in currency and a revenue tariff. Ultimately, Populism and Progressivism acted as a direct representation of the anger and desperation felt by Americans towards those involved in the corruption that shaped America’s

Farmers had to buy seed, fertilizer, and they had to be able to pay to get their goods out to the markets. This meant that their profit margins were close to nothing. Farmers commonly found themselves in large amounts of debt. The Populist Party, also known as the people’s party, consisted of small farmers, temperance forces, and labor unionist. These people came together due to common interest and demands they had for the government. The Farmers Alliance led to the establishment of the People’s Party, really took off when these people met up together in St.Louis in 1892. They wanted an expansion of currency, meaning that instead of gold being the only form of currency, they wanted silver to be part of it too. This would benefit the populist by causing inflation, which would make it easier to pay off credit and debt that they had. In addition they wanted equal opportunity, control of the railroads, and direct elections of the congressmen. Many of the populist’s ideas were mind blowing to many Americans at the time and was seen as challenging the current acting laws. The populist began to run in elections for congress and even presidential elections. They wanted to be established as a large political party. This party found much success in the 1892 presidential election, where they acquired over one million

The Populist Program called for public ownership of railroads and telegrams, the party believed that the government should own and run the railroads in the best interest of the people because if they did not it was either “the people own the railroads or the railroads own the people.” They also called for protection from land monopolies, They believed that land, should not be monopolized for speculative purposes, and alien ownership of land should be prohibited. They state that all lands owned by aliens should be reclaimed by the government and held for actual settlers only. Also, they want income tax on the rich, which would lower the level of the McKinley tariff, while making the wealthy pay more income tax than the poor, and would decrease

Corruption in campaigns, in the modern sense of candidates being swayed by corporate influence, was a result of the changes brought on by the Industrial and Technological Revolutions. These revolutions created millionaire captains of industry whose immense influence and power held sway over the future of the United States both economically and politically. Elections and campaigning methods drastically changed as technology allowed candidates to reach voters through new kinds of advertising. Gone were the days when being born in a log cabin was the key to door of the Oval Office, the effectiveness of a candidate’s campaign now correlated with the amount of money backing it. The early twentieth century also saw the continuance of the widespread corruption, particularly in the railroad industry, but also in political campaigns, that had plagued the late nineteenth century before it. The significance of this is that, while corruption had no doubt existed prior to this period, the sheer scale of this new corruption and the magnitude of the resulting political scandals was unlike anything America had witnessed before. Muckraking writer Lincoln Steffens, in his book The Shame of the Cities, described the problem of the political sphere of his time by stating: “politics is business. That 's what 's the matter with it. That 's what 's the matter with everything.” (Steffens 2) Something clearly needed to be done to stem the rising corruption and action came as the progressive movement

Discontented farmers, despite their passion, lacked the numbers to make a national impact. They accomplished many of their goals, though most were not recognized as populist achievements. Ultimately, class played a primary role in the apparent failure of the populists in comparison to the success of the progressives. Despite the brevity of its existence, the Populist movement exercised a profound influence on subsequent U.S. political life. Almost all the Populist demands, which at one time were widely viewed as radical and contradictory to America’s free enterprise system, were eventually enacted into law.

Farmers formed the populist movement as a result of their frustration; their difficulties and cried for help was ignored, they were suffering with no sight of help at the end of the tunnel. Almost two decades of drought affecting their crops, price falling, high interest rates, high railroad tax and lack of credit from; no response from the two major political parties . Their fight for wealthy business to bear the taxation burden fall on deaf tears. The Industrial Union and the Farmer’s Alliances that